Save Our Stripers!
www.saveourstripers.org

We need our chamber members help to defeat proposed legislation to deregulate the striped bass. A Kern County assembly woman has introduced legislation to open them to unlimited take, no size limit, commercial fishing, etc. as retaliation to our efforts to protect our delta water. If you feel this will affect your members businesses please visit the site and sign on in opposition:  www.saveourstripers.org.

If you have more questions, write or visit the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance at www.calsport.org. Note that all fishing organizations in our region and our state oppose this legislation. Our Department of Fish and Game disagrees with the premise of this legislation and is currently fighting a similar attack on our striped bass fishery in court. Your support in opposition is CRITICAL in helping to crush this legislation before it has a chance to ruin our fishery and harm your business!

FishDelta.Com - Fish Reports

FishDelta.com is a new Delta Chambers member. We will now be adding the link to their fishing reports each week on this page. Some of the reports are duplicates. CLICK HERE to read the FishDelta Reports.

Also, for those missing the old Delta Chambers Fish Forum, you can now go to FishDeltaBuzz and participate in their fishing forums. Click Here

Dan Mathisen
Email & Website

Delta Bank Fishing
by Roland “Innovate” Aspiras

I’m not sure about other anglers, but I’m fed up with the summer weather. I’m ready for cooler temps, flat calm water and sturgeon fishing – that’s what fall is all about!

Regardless of the heat, sturgeon fishing is definitely starting to get into fall-bite mode. Anglers fishing from the fleet in Suisun Bay to Sherman Island have been getting into some good action on the incoming tide. Catches have been a mixture of shakers and oversize fish, but very few slot sized fish. Shrimp, eel, roe and pile worms have been the best baits. The winds are still unpredictable in the area, so be sure to do your homework and check weather reports before you take a trip out.

Stripers are in the Rio Vista area, but the fishing has been spotty at best. Trollers on one day will report a good outing, then the next day the fishing goes dead. Even those venturing 40+ miles on their trolling trips are finding spotty action at best. Shallow and deep trolling both have been productive, however the shallow troll provides less frustration from the witches hair that is currently plaguing the area.

My parents took a quick trip to Sherman Island this past Sunday to bait fish for stripers. They scored one keeper 23 inch striper and released many other sublegals that kept them busy throughout the afternoon. I had to stay behind due to some school projects that were due that evening.

Stripers on the American River are still a sleeper bet for those tossing subsurface and topwater plugs. Fishing mid morning and mid afternoon is still the best pattern. A few striper anglers have been starting to see a few pods of salmon and steelhead moving through the system. It’s still early, but let us hope that a good number of salmon return to the system this year.

Catfish are currently on tap in just about all sloughs of the delta. Toss out the usual baits like anchovies and chicken liver for some whiskercritter fun.

That’s it for this week. Although the action is still somewhat slow, I would suggest striper fishing in the Rio Vista area for anglers looking to get out this weekend. Sturgeon is another bet but definitely do your homework if you’re looking to fish in big water.

To all, have a fun time on the banks and as always – make sure you pick up after yourself so the next person can enjoy the spot you just fished.

Roland “Innovate” Aspiras
Roland's Fishing Blog
Email

Isleton Area
by Can Nguyen -- Bob's Bait Shops

It was warmer than previous weeks with temperatures sometimes close to triple digits in the Delta areas. The fall season officially began 09/22/09. Even though it was very hot at certain times of the day, it cooled off nicely in the evening. There are more calm days than windy days now. The water temperature is still at high 60 degrees. It is gradually dropping day by day.

The best temperature for striped bass run is about 60 degrees. Striped bass fishing was good in most parts of the Delta. However, striped bass were found most in Sherman Island and Decker Island either by bank anglers or boat anglers. Boat anglers who trolled along Hoseshoe Bend reported very good striped bass hooked. Sandy Beach is another hot spot to troll for striped bass.

Trolling technique have been posted in many previous fishing reports. To learn more about striped bass trolling techniques, you can attend the incoming seminar on 09/26/09 at Hap's Bait shop in Rio Vista from 1:30PM to 2:30 PM.

Sturgeon fishing was fair in Bay Point and Sherman Island area. The best available bait for sturgeon is ghost shrimp.

Black bass fishing was very hot last week at the Isleton fishing pier and Isleton Bridge. Numbers of good size large mouth bass were caught last week in these spots on either crank bait or live minnows.

I went out on 09/19/09 and got 7 lb and 4 lb large mouth bass at the Isleton fishing pier.

Catfish fishing was very good in most parts of the Delta channels including Three Miles Slough, Seven Miles Slough, Georgian Slough, Isleton public fishing pier and Isleton Bridge. Good luck to you and have a nice coming weekend.

Can
Email & Website

Antioch-Oakley Area
by Chris Lauritzen -- Lauritzen Yacht Harbor

Tuesday was the first day of Fall ... rejoice. In order to prepare for fall I spent Monday in the fog at Tomales Bay fishing for halibut, but there was no catching, just a lot of fishing.

In the valleys near Tomales Point I could hear the Tule Elk bugle their favorite tune courting their favorite cute cow elk. Just past Hog Island in Tomales Bay I spent most of the day fishing for bait shiners and sardines to go fishing for halibut. To be honest I had a great time catching the bait. It really was fun catching three and four baits at a time on very tiny hooks. From Hog Island to Marshall it was very clear, no fog but it was just on the side of the headlands.

If the elk bugling at Tomales is a sign of fall then duck blinds being anchored in Sherman Lake or Franks Tract is a sign of fall in the Delta as well. There is a lot more activity at the Pittsburg Marina these days from small boats with olive drab paint leaving the harbor taking would be fall hunters to Spoonbill Slough or Montezuma Slough to the duck clubs in that area to build up duck blinds and maybe do a little brushing around the duck blinds.

Another sign of fall for me is the Tule fog. I mentioned a few weeks back much to my surprise we had dew last Thursday or Friday here at the harbor. I was surprised at that as well because it has been so dry with low humidity. Anyway there was a blanket of tule fog on Sherman Island from the base of the north side of the Antioch Bridge all the way across to the north side of the island. I would say the fog was no higher than the road way and up maybe up to a ceiling of 50 feet. By 7:30 am or so that fog was gone.

Last week was a very slow week for striper fishing by all accounts Paul Wong of Antioch took a couple of buddies out fishing several mornings last week getting out about an hour before sunrise. He was lucky if he brought back a fish or two. Reno Garcia Jr. of Antioch went out this past Saturday spending most of his time in Sherman Lake. I believe I have two reasons for the slow bite.  First, a school of stripers had come through the West Delta a week or two before and they were now further up river out of our range. Second, we had very slow water movement in the way of tide and current (we fish current flow). As of Sunday we were starting to see 6 foot tides with minus runs outs so that should help us fishing moving forward the next couple of weeks.

This past Friday it was pretty hot at the harbor, very little wind and very dry. I decided to take the boat out and just anchor in Broad Slough to see if I could cool down a little. I was amazed to see a pretty even 73 degree water from Broad Slough to the Antioch Bridge. It was a little warmer in the harbor. I would bet that in Discovery Bay and well as places Sycamore Slough, Beaver Slough, and Hog Slough will be in the 75 – 80 degree mark.

There are a lot meetings being held around the Delta these days on how the state feels they need to reshape the water policies and for that matter how our Delta levees should look. A good example of that is on Sherman Island where DWR (Department of Water Resources) has cut back some of the outside levee in Mayberry Slough and planted what they consider to be native plants and trees with our tax dollars.

The folks in Discovery Bay are fighting two rock dam projects. DWR is talking about moving ahead with placing one at Connection Slough and one in Old River near Holland Cut. The purpose of the dams is to slow the amount of Delta Smelt that are pulled into the pumps at Clifton Forebay. The dams are supposed to be in place for up to five years while they analyze the data from their experiment.

Be a voice and come to a meeting and at least learn what all of us who try to make a living in the Delta have to go through these days. See you on the sunny Delta.

Chris Lauritzen
Lauritzen's Yacht Harbor
Website